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Emotional Carry secures Olympic time in Sheffield

20 June 2012

David Carry booked a spot at his third Olympic Games with 400m Freestyle gold on the opening day of the British Gas ASA National Championships in Sheffield.

Click here for more video interviews and race highlights from Ponds Forge.The 30-year old clocked his first personal best since 2008 to take victory, touching in 3:46.86 to sail under the FINA ‘A’ time needed to qualify for selection.

Welsh teenager Ieuan Lloyd took the race out and set a lifetime best himself of 3:48.10 but Carry overhauled his rival on the final 50m to clinch gold with Lewis Smith (3:53.03) the third British finisher.

And Carry admitted qualifying for his third Games would be a moment he wouldn’t forget in a hurry.

“I’ve never been so emotional after a swim before,” said Carry. “Just before the first trials I had a back injury which was the first time I’ve had an injury my whole career.

“I managed to get through them but I didn’t quite do what I wanted to do.

“Knowing that I had this one last to stand up and perform, it was a really special moment to win it.

“I knew I’ve put a huge amount of effort in – more than any other season since the last Olympics. But the more that I trained, the better my body seemed to get so that was a huge encouragement for me.

“You always dream it will come together on the day so for it to actually happen was so special.”

Double Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington also starred at Ponds Forge, capturing 200m Freestyle gold to strengthen her claim for a relay spot at London 2012.

The double Olympic champion opted not to compete over 200m at the first trials, the British Gas Swimming Championships in March, instead focusing on qualifying for her preferred 400m and 800m Freestyle events.

But the 23-year old underlined her ability over the shorter distance as well, winning gold in 1:58.68 in what was her first 200m Freestyle competition since last year’s World Championships in Shanghai.

“I was really unsure how that was going to go,” said Adlington. “I don’t have a lot of speed, I’m not rested and I felt really sluggish after this morning.

“So to come away with that time and a gold is really pleasing. You can tell I’ve not got as much speed as the other girls.

“It takes me a while to get going but I was really pleased to put in a solid performance and it sets me up nicely for my 400 and 800.”

British champion Rebecca Turner will be competing the 200m Freestyle individual at London 2012 and continued her good form to claim silver in 1:59.11 while Lucy Ellis set a personal best 1:59.14 for bronze.

Lizzie Simmonds clocked a world class time to defend her 100m Backstroke title.

The British Gas ITC Loughborough swimmer – who has qualified for London 2012 over 200m Backstroke – touched in 59.89 to jump to eighth in this season’s world rankings.

“I’m really pleased," said Simmonds. "For me that race was all about the mentality and I’m looking to apply that more to the 200m. It was about really working that back 50m rather than blitzing the first 50m then dying a little on the last one.

"I’ll probably get told off because I was meant to negative split it and I’m pretty sure I didn’t, but it felt like that to me. It was all about the second 50m."

"It was about really working that back 50m rather than blitzing the first 50m then dying a little on the last one," - Lizzie SimmondsWelsh record holder Georgia Davies came home second in 1:00.60 while teenager Lauren Quigley set a personal best 1:00.72 for bronze.

Kathryn Johnstone broke the Scottish record twice in the space of a day as she secured 50m Breaststroke gold in 31.68.

Andrea Strachan (31.81) and Corrie Scott (32.09) followed Johnstone home to complete a clean sweep of the podium for the University of Edinburgh.

And the gold medallist admitted the prospect of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow is inspiring for the next generation of Scottish swimmers.

“2014 is inspiring us a lot, especially because there are three of us in the 50m breast and there’s only two spots," said Johnstone. "We want each other to do well, but each of us really wants to be the best.

"I’ve been sat around 32.1 for the past two years now and I really just want to do a PB. So to do that in the heats was more than I was expecting and to do it in the final is fantastic.”

Richard Webb won gold in the 100m Breaststroke touching in at 1:01.64. The British Gas ITC Swansea swimmer came in ahead of Andrew Willis (1:02.40) and Russell Smith (1:02.63).

Willis’ training partner Siobhan-Marie O’Connor defended her 200m Individual Medley title with an impressive personal best to jump to third in the all-time British rankings.

The 16-year old dominated the final from the gun, touching home in 2:11.86 with Bath University’s Stacey Tadd (2:15.39) and City of Sheffield’s Lucy Spencer (2:15.44) coming home for silver and bronze respectively.

City of Sheffield’s Matthew Johnson took the top spot at 1:59.71, followed by Cameron Brodie (2:00.56) and Iain Macmillan (2:00.99).

Tilly Gray took the gold with a personal best at 1:00.42. The British Gas ITC Loughborough swimmer touched in ahead of Elena Sheridan (1:00.68 PB) and Rachel Lefley (1:01.21).

Finally, the men’s 50m backstroke event brought home three personal best for the top three swimmers.

City of Salford swimmer Luke Wood took the gold with 25:77, followed by David Gregory (25.79) who took the silver and Joseph Patching (26.26) who took the bronze.